We were supposed to visit Chandragiri fort during our Horsley Hills trip, but with our car creating trouble Day 2 plans went for a toss and we had to drop the idea of visiting Chandragiri

2 months later, during our Venkatagiri-Talakona trip we accidently came across Chandragiri fort and explored it a bit.

This Chandragiri is located in Andhra Pradesh near temple town Tirupati and not to be mistaken with a similar named fort in Kerala. On the Bangalore-Tirupati route, Chandragiri fort is located about 20 kms before Tirupati. The fort houses 2 major buildings- One is a 2 stories building called Raja Mahal or King’s residence, now converted into museum and the other one is a smaller Rani Mahal.

Chandragiri fort was built in the 11th century. (Now 1000 years young!) Chandragiri was under the rule of Yadava rayas for about three centuries and came into control of Vijayanagar rulers in 1367. (source, Wikipedia) and probably this explains the presence of a golden coloured statue of Sri Krishnadevaraya in the campus.

Museum houses a small collection of ancient artefacts, idols and literature, related to regions ranging from Mysore Empire to the Golcondas. Caretakers of the museum offer to explain them in more detail to you, of course in expectation of money. Photography is not allowed inside. First and second floor of Rani Mahal is closed and kept out of bound from tourists.

The palace appears to be built more for leisure than as a defence against enemies, as the structure is located very close to fort walls (which aren’t of great height either) and not built on top of the hill. The small rocky hill adjacent to it houses about 8 ruined temples and structures and a decent walk through the fort campus would take about 3 hours. (refer image above)

There’s a small pond in the campus and some boats too, but the pond is too small for any sane boating. Laser show is organized during weekends, 7PM onwards.

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